Escaping Normal
by Pheo the Flame
Summary: Losira Summers is an average girl, with an average life and average dreams. Unfortunately, her normality will come undone with the help of one very crazy violinist, a mildly disturbing waltz, and the school's dance unit.
1. Chapter 1

**Escaping Normal**

Disclaimer: I own neither DN Angel nor the amazing, beautiful, wonderful, and talented Emilie Autumn.

…

My hand slammed down on the snooze button on my alarm clock and I practically shot out of bed to unplug my iPod as strains of 'Manic Depression' tumbled and twisted into my ears. Emilie Autumn never failed to make me leap to stop my mom from hearing whatever my alarm was, especially when this song was set as the alarm, seeing as it was one that had once woken up my mom from across the hall, even though she was a heavy sleeper. It was five thirty in the morning, and I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and dragged myself over to my closet, which I opened carefully. It was the first day of school after winter break, and I was eager to see my friends again.

I pondered the clothes in the closet for a few moments, then snagged a pair of dark blue, bootcut jeans and a black and gray striped turtleneck and slipped off down the hallway to get changed.

Ten minutes later, I was still standing in front of the bathroom mirror, trying to put my contacts in. It had taken me less than five minutes to get dressed, and now all that was missing from my outfit were my boots and my contacts. I was wearing brown tinted ones today, though I liked to switch between colors.

Before we go any farther, I suppose I should explain that to you. You see, I'm an albino. For those of you who don't know, that means have virtually no color (or pigment) to my body. My hair is white. My skin is white. My eyes… well, my eyes are sort of pink-hued. I've read that they can be violet too, and I really wish that had been the case with me, because I really did not like wearing contacts. In fact, most days I had trouble just putting them in.

Like today, for instance. Even though these were also for vision problems, I couldn't stand them. I mean, why stick something in your eye? But still, I doggedly kept at it until I seemed to allow myself to place first one disk on my right eye, than the other on my left. By the time I walked back into my room, it was six 'o' clock. My mom would be awake soon, and then I'd eat breakfast, brush my teeth (again) and head off to highschool, hoping that I didn't forget something.

A few minutes later, as I was lazily browsing my email, I heard my mom's alarm clock go off. It would be several more minutes before she was even fully awake, so I didn't worry too much about running downstairs. Besides, we ate breakfast at seven at the earliest. I continued opening old mail at random and rereading it, until, at seven twenty-three (the time would forever be remembered) a new email popped onto my screen. I blinked in surprise when I saw who had sent it. It was our gym slash drama teacher, Mrs. Reiter. The message had no subject, and, with quite a bit of curiosity, I opened it. It read as follows:

_Hello students,_

_As many of you know, my favorite gym unit, our dancing unit, is beginning today. I have sent this email not as a reminder, but to inform you that I intend to do things a bit differently this year. Instead of teaching everyone one dance a day for the four week course, I intend to put all of you in pairs. Oddly enough, we have an even number of boys and girls in the classes this year starting _today_, so my idea will work perfectly. Each pair will learn a specific style of dance. The styles of dances vary greatly, yet are all similar on some scale. I hope you all will enjoy learning whatever dance is selected for you and your partner, and I can't wait to see all of you in class today!_

_-Mrs. Reiter_

I blinked and reread the letter. "We have a new student?" I asked myself quietly, trying to determine what Mrs. R had meant. Then I re-read the email again; hopelessness falling onto my shoulders like a blanket of lead. I closed the email and went downstairs. My mom (who wasn't much of a cook) was trying to pull a piece of burnt toast from the toaster with a fork. "Unplug it first," I said. It was an old joke between us; she had once forgotten to do just that. It had been the longest three hours I'd ever spent in the emergency room.

"'Course Losi," she replied. I grimaced at her old pet name for me.

"Mom, call me Sira, or Losira, please, but don't call me Losi…" She sighed.

"Alright Sira… I remember when you used to love being called Losi…" She had succeeded in pulling the charred black remains of what might have once been bread out of the toaster, and was putting another slice in.

"Yeah, back when I was five maybe…" We had this argument every morning, and had once, just for the heck of it, put it to song. It had been horrible, since neither of us were particularly gifted singers (especially at six in the morning), and we'd both ended up laughing so hard we could barely stand.

"Well, how's toast sound to you?" I didn't really have an appetite, but I shrugged, indicating that toast would be fine as long as it was recognizable as just that. A few moments later, our old fashioned metal bread cooker made a sort of springing noise. Breakfast (if a single slice of toast and half a glass of orange juice could be called breakfast) was served.

"Mom…" I trailed off, trying to figure out how to say this. "Our dance unit starts today."

"That's wonderful!" She exclaimed. "Mrs. Reiter must be almost ready to pull you out of class to start early!" I sighed. I had been expecting this.

"She's doing it differently this year…" Instantly my mom was all ears. Well, not literally, but I'm sure you know what I mean. "See, she's pairing all the girls with guys, and then we're all learning some specific form of dance… oh God… what if I get paired up with someone like Takeshi? Or Dark?" I closed my eyes, trying not to think about it.

"And what if you get paired up with Satoshi?" My mom asked slyly. My eyes shot open.

"W-why Satoshi?" I asked, trying not to look too shocked.

"C'mon Losira, it's obvious you like him… just hope for the best." Even my mom could tell I liked him? Then why had he never even _looked at me? _He was supposedly extremely smart for his age; I'd even heard rumors that he was an undercover cop trying to catch Dark, who was supposedly some great thief. They were so absurd it was laughable.

"Right mom," I said, "Hope for the best." But I wasn't. Not really. I had the worst feeling in my stomach; one that normally predicted a bad day. This would not be the greatest first day back I'd ever had. "I'll see you after school, okay?"

"Bye Losi," she said. "I'll see you then. Be safe." She had a smile on her face, and I didn't contradict her when she called me Losi. It was just how our mornings went. I grabbed a coat and my messenger bag from its hook by the door and set off on foot. I loved walking to school, and I did so as often as I could. I'd even walk in the rain, providing I had an umbrella. I'd see Riku and Daisuke when I got to school, Risa too. And I'd get to see Satoshi…

"Forget him," I said. But I knew I wouldn't. Even though that had been my mantra for over a year, it did me no good. I kept walking, my boots crunching in the thin layer of snow that covered the sidewalk. It was only fifteen minutes to school on foot, but it felt like an hour. I kept glancing at my watch, trying to make sure I wasn't late. I had to be there at seven today for a volunteer science project. We were trying to build an air conditioner for our overheated science classroom using a coil of copper pipe, an old fan, and a cooler full of ice (a heating pipe had burst a while earlier, and the floor had literally melted the rubber off of someone's shoes). I'd been trying to come up with a way to continuously circulate the water through the pipe during the break, but so far I'd only been able to advance on the idea of using an old fish tank filter. Either way, I was excited to see Ms. Maes and get the niggling thoughts of the dance unit out of my head.

I slipped into the school with a clatter of the door and the stamping of boots. Thankfully, Ms. Maes' room was on the main floor, so I didn't have to worry about climbing stairs just yet. After depositing my coat in my locker, I walked down the hallway, listening to my footsteps squeak and echo in my ears. I knocked twice on the door, and waited for several seconds. The door opened. "Hey Sira!" It was Cindy, a rather geeky young girl who loved gears and mechanics, just like I did. We weren't close friends, but it was nice seeing her. The fact she'd dyed her hair bright orange had earned her the nickname 'Cinder' (and unfortunately, 'Cinder Block' by some of the crueler people). Darren was also there, focusing on bending a bit of copper pipe to the right shape. I pulled a roll of electrical tape out of my bag and tossed it towards him. He caught it without looking up.

Ms. Maes was sitting at her desk, grading the few papers that she hadn't gotten to during the break. She had told us right away that this would be our project, and though we could feel free to run ideas past her, she was mainly just going to act as our supervisor. "Hey Cindy," I replied, "How was your break?"

"Not bad," she shrugged, "It could've been worse."

"Mine was great," Darren said. "My dad's teaching me more about welding."

"Cool," I replied. "Mine was pretty boring… Hey Darren, where's Devin?" Devin was Darren's twin brother. Thankfully, the two weren't identical. Darren had long, shaggy brown hair that was always hanging in his eyes, tan skin and was one of the most popular guys in the school. Devin kept his hair cut shorter, was almost as pale as me, and was a bit more of a nerd. I'd been friends with both of them since preschool.

"He's sick," was the reply. "Caught a nasty strain of the flu. He should be back soon though." He held up the piece of pipe to a light, allowing me to catch a glimpse of it. It looked like a Celtic knot of some sort. I really hoped he hadn't been doing that all morning.

"C'mon you two," Cindy said, "Let's get this done today, hmm?" She was standing in the back of the room, next to the disassembled fan and the rest of the copper pipe. I happily joined her. Darren followed behind.

"So… do we just need to get the pipe mounted today?" I asked.

"I'd like to check out the circulation too, if we've got time," Darren said. Cindy nodded in agreement. I shrugged and nodded consent. If we had time I didn't care if we did it, but knowing how we worked, we probably wouldn't be finished before the first bell. I began to work setting up the filter system with electrical tape and a small hand drill, putting holes in the top of the Plastic cooler and threading bits of tubing inside. When I felt them touch the bottom, I'd pull them up about an inch and Cindy would hold them while I taped them in place. It was slightly repetitive, but as I only had to do it twice, I enjoyed the work. Darren put the final touches on the spiral of copper pipe as I was doing this, which made it a bit more difficult than I thought, but I didn't say anything.

By seven forty-five, I was laying on my back on the floor, fiddling with a filter Ms. Maes had pulled from somewhere in the depths of a back closet. Cindy was holding the plastic lid above my head so I had both hands free, and Darren was fiddling with the odd chunk of metal he'd been playing with when I arrived. I heard him blow a strand of hair away from his eyes and wondered again what it was he was trying to make.

"What're you doing Darren?" Cindy beat me to the question.

"Nothing," he replied. This was so like him… I heard him blow hair out of his eyes again as I tried to get the filter to connect to the piece of plastic tubing that was hooked to the copper pipe. I wasn't doing too well, seeing as how Cindy kept moving around trying to find out what Darren was doing.

"C'mon," Cindy said, "You can tell me!"

"It's nothing," Darren repeated in a monotone. "I'll show you later." Cindy huffed, but at least she stilled long enough for me to hook one part of the filter to the plastic tubing. Unfortunately, just then the first bell rang, and she shot up. I barely caught the filter as it fell.

"Oh my gosh Sira," she said, "I'm so sorry! I've gotta run to get to my geometry class, or I'd help you… I'll see you in gym!" She dashed off, giving Darren and me a slight wave as she slipped out of the door. I wished she hadn't mentioned gym class.

"I've got history," Darren said calmly, "It's not too far away. Where do you want this stuff?" He directed the question to Ms. Maes, who pointed at the back table.

"Right where it always is Darren," she said. "Thanks." He smiled and nodded, and the two of us slowly put things back. It only took a few minutes.

"I guess I'll see you in the shop," Darren said. I smiled.

"Yup, I'll see you then. Give me a few welding pointers, won't you?"

"'Course Sira. See ya." With that, he too grabbed his backpack and set off towards his history class. We only had woodshop (in which we _were_ welding a bit) and gym together (well, when we were doing co-ed activities at least), but we tried to keep in contact as best we could.

I took a seat in the front row and waited for the rest of the class to arrive. I watched the door with a wary eye, waiting for Riku and Satoshi to come in. Daisuke would probably be late (as usual) Satoshi would be the first one here, and Riku would walk through the door a few minutes later. But to my surprise, the assistant principle came in first, leading a tall boy with extremely long blonde hair and eyes like chips of frozen amber champagne. He wore a loose white turtleneck and dark blue jeans, rather like a reversed version of what I was wearing. I stiffened slightly and made a mental note to not wear anymore turtlenecks over the course of this winter.

"Good morning Ms. Maes," he said. Mr. Whiddekin was a tall man. He had to be at least six foot five, and had some of the brightest red hair I had ever seen. He was quite nice and almost always smiled. "Good morning Losira." I nodded at him; a normal greeting. "Ms. Maes, this is your new student, Krad Hikari." Krad? What kind of freakish name was Krad? I gave him a quick smile and turned to a notebook I had lying open. I loved writing poetry; though I wasn't particularly good at it, and it gave me an excuse to not have to look at him. Krad, that is. He had a sort of 'I don't care much' vibe around him, and I had a feeling he wouldn't be one of the most popular 'new kids' that the school had ever seen. But Hikari… why did it sound so familiar?

But then Satoshi walked through the door with a quiet 'excuse me' directed at the assistant principle and I quickly shut my notebook. I was currently writing a poem about his eyes… which I know was quite sappy and stupid, but he had such handsome eyes… However, I heard something I didn't on most days when (I assume) he saw Krad. I heard books falling to the floor. Satoshi had dropped them in surprise and with just a glance at him I could tell he was in shock. Turning my gaze over to Krad, I saw a smirk on his lips.

"Well," he said, "If it isn't my little brother." His voice was deep with a slight, indeterminable accent, and his eyes glittered smugly to match the smirk still on his lips.

"Yes," Satoshi snapped, gathering the books he had dropped, "It is Krad. I thought you were never coming back."

"Circumstances change," Krad purred. I am not kidding when I say he purred. His voice seemed to vibrate, like he really was a cat. A smug, egotistical, long-furred, creepy, blonde cat. Emphasis on long haired. How could he be related to someone like Satoshi? It didn't seem possible. It _couldn't_ be possible. Satoshi glared at him, then took a seat (right behind me, I might add). I wondered why no one else was here yet. The first bell had rung almost three minutes ago. The warning bell would be ringing soon… I put my head on my desk and sighed, hoping that someone; anyone would come in and get rid of this awkward silence that I was sitting in the middle of.

"I'd better be off," Mr. Whiddekin said abruptly, "I've got to get back to the office for morning announcements." With that, he turned on his heel and walked out.

"Krad," Mrs. Maes said, "Take a seat wherever you want, we haven't got out new seating chart yet." She didn't look up from her computer, where she was probably entering his name into the class list. I, meanwhile, was praying he wouldn't choose to sit anywhere near me.

But of course, he chose the desk to my right.

**…**

AN: Haha, well this came out quite a bit later than I thought it would. It was originally supposed to be out sometime in the summer! Oh well, I suppose it's better like this. Although Cindy, Darren and Devin aren't based on real people, Ms. Maes is based (slightly) on my own science teacher and Losira's school is based on my own (and yes, I did create an air conditioner almost the same way Losira and her friends did, with help from my science teacher and a couple of guys). I don't have a clue how a school dance unit should go, but… creative liberty is an amazing thing, isn't? Anyway, please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Disclaimer: Do I own DN Angel?

Do I have a funny way to say this disclaimer?

Losira: No.

Me: Precisely.

**…**

Science wasn't very bad, in truth, but I swear I was in the middle of a bomb field. I was glad when the bell rang at the end of the block, even though I knew I wouldn't remember anything. As students streamed past me towards the door, I noticed that not one of them even attempted to talk to Krad. Not, of course, that I cared. I slipped through the crowds like a trout in a stream and headed up to the second floor for history, glad that the new guy wasn't following. I slipped into Mr. J's room with a sigh of relief and found my seat between Risa and the window.

"Hey Sira!" Risa chirped, "I haven't seen you in ages!" I laughed.

"It's only been a week," I said, "but yeah… It does seem like forever." I pulled out my three-ring binder and scribbled down the notes I'd write down tonight, and Risa and I talked about trivial things until the bell rang. She told me how much she liked the brown contacts I'd chosen for the day, and joked about me getting some Halloween lenses and wearing them to school. I rolled my eyes and laughed again, knowing that I'd never end up doing it. It sounded like fun, but I was too shy.

The class was called to order.

**…**

I slipped down the stairs into the basement, quietly going to the woodshop. I breathed in the sawdust the way a chef might smell a fine spice. Almost instantly upon stepping into the classroom, a thick coating of sawdust settled onto my shoes and I waved at Darren, who waved back. I trotted eagerly over to our bench, where we were working on our projects. I was trying to build a grandfather clock (our teacher had almost fallen out of his chair when I'd suggested my project to him, but he'd given me the go-ahead after a bit of convincing) and Darren himself was building a large coat rack for his mom.

Before I get to when the bell rings, I suppose I should explain the shop to you. You did not sit in this class. Everyone chose a 'bench partner' at the beginning of the year, and the two of you would each have half of your bench. How it was divided didn't matter. Darren and I had quickly teamed up; he'd noticed I didn't really know anyone else in the class and I was thankful. Some people asked me if we were dating, or if I liked him, but the answer was always 'no, we're just friends,' or something to that point. And it was the truth, we knew it both ways. Darren would talk idly of who had caught his eye, and though I never did tell him about Satoshi, I'd sometimes laugh and say 'her? Really?' and he would try to defend himself while I continued to laugh. We were friends, and I didn't want to be anything else. He was handsome, I guess, but he wasn't the right one for me.

The bell rang as I pulled several long boards from where they had been stored over the break and walked over to get some sandpaper. I was almost done with the initial sanding, which was always the worst, and I was glad. I wasn't very far in the project because we'd only started about two weeks ago.

"Hey Darren," I said, puzzled, "You're really quiet today. Is something… is something wrong?" I shouldn't have asked; I knew he wouldn't want me prying in his business, but… he was worrying me. He hadn't moved after he'd waved to me, and he was normally to work as soon as he got here.

"It's nothing," he said, but his voice was dull and I saw that he was fiddling with the same piece of copper tubing he'd been playing with this morning. I wondered again if it was a Celtic knot, and part of me wanted to ask him. Then he sighed and stuck it resolutely in his backpack, and went to search for sandpaper. I watched his retreating back for a moment, and then slowly began sanding. He'd tell me in time. I was sure of it.

**…**

It was almost the end of class when my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a text from Darren. I glanced at him, but he looked down at his shoes. What was wrong with him? I opened the text as discreetly as possible. _It's… it's about Cindy. _I smiled, then giggled, trying to stifle the laughter that was threatening me. I glanced up at him, and he stared back at me. His eyes were filled with hurt.

I instantly realized my mistake. "I'm not laughing at you," I said quickly. "It's just… ironic. She likes you, ya know."

"I'm worried about what everyone else will think," he said. I'd never known Darren to the so shy about anything before. He brushed his dark hair out of his brown eyes, and looked at me. Y'know… it's just that we're both so different."

"So what?" I asked, "I don't think you should care about it that much." I planned to say more, but just then our teacher called for us to put our boards away and clean up. I picked up the pieces of oak and put them in the back of the room (the only place they would fit). Then Darren and I headed up to band. I played the flute and the piano when it was needed, and Darren was a percussionist. Cindy played French horn. Just before I headed in, I said, "Darren Braddock, you shouldn't care what anyone thinks." Then I went to unpack my flute and see what Mr. Cladwell had for us to play.

**…**

As I pulled my folder out from the cabinet it shared with the other folders, I quickly opened it to see if we'd been given anything new to play. To my delight, three new pieces of music greeted me. The first one I looked at was a prettily titled piece called 'Ammerland', which looked to be a bit repetitive, but interesting anyway. The second was called 'Sailing Songs', and was a full three pages long and looked quite difficult. Joy. The third piece in my folder was for the piano, and I flexed my fingers eagerly in anticipation. I was a bit of an anime nerd, and when I had sent in an anonymous request to our director that we play (or at least attempt) this song, I never would have guessed he'd be able to make an arrangement for it, much less give _me _the sheet music for the instrument it originated from! There were other pianists in the band, of course, so I hadn't expected this…

But 'L's Theme' sat there in my folder like a thing from a dream. I glanced up and saw Cindy and Darren both staring at me, and I grinned. Cindy rolled her eyes, and Darren started tapping out the first strains of the theme on a set of bells.

I sighed, smiled to myself, and went to unpack my flute. No doubt I'd have a lot of work to try and perfect this 'Sailing Songs'. I had never liked sixteenth notes.

I slipped the flute case and my bag under my chair, and took my seat. I was second chair in the flute section, and was perfectly happy with that. Cindy, always with that self-diagnosed inferiority complex of hers, was never happy being second best at anything, and had quickly risen to first chair in the French horn section –quite a feat for a freshman. Darren really didn't care much about where he was in the percussion section, and I never asked him, but he was good at what he did.

I began playing quietly through a scale, holding my notes out to be sure they didn't quiver. Then, as I neared the top of the scale, Lindsay, who was first chair of the flutes, put a tuner on my stand. I didn't take it as an insult –I had grown to learn that she was quite a perfectionist, and upon finding I was playing a bit too sharp, I adjusted the flute accordingly.

"Thanks," I said, giving it back to her. She nodded, and her brown hair (tied in a high ponytail) bobbed.

"Anytime," she said. "Why don't you buy one of these?" I shrugged. To be honest, I didn't care whether or not I was in tune when I was at home, or in practice. We always tuned individually before concerts, and that was all that mattered to me.

"I guess I just never think about it," I said. I was saved further explanation when Mr. C called the class to order.

"Hello class," he said, "I hope you all had a wonderful break, and I'm glad to see you all here." He paused, scanning for any absences, and made a small note. "Well, most of you anyway. Darren, where's Devin?" I had forgotten he wasn't here, but sure enough, his seat in the clarinet section was empty.

"He's sick," Darren said. Cladwell made a sympathetic noise, then closed his attendance book.

We played a few scales for warm up, and then we got to the real deal. "Alright everyone, pull up 'Ammerland'," Mr. Cladwell called. I sighed, but figured that it would be at least two or three days until we began play 'L's Theme'. It was probably for the best anyway.

We had band for a full block, which was eighty minutes, and I loved the first forty minutes of that. We ran 'Ammerland' several times, and after the initial sight-reading, we stopped often to pick out problems –mainly with the dynamics. When Cladwell (we all called him that) told us to put our music away for a moment, I glanced up, puzzled, and then felt a jolt of excitement.

Walking through the band doors, with a beautiful, sleek viola held in one hand, was Satoshi. His eyes scanned the room quickly, and I tried not to look at him. In fact, I stared resolutely at my stand until Cladwell spoke. "I received a request to play a song called 'L's Theme' a week or so before the break, and upon listening to it, decided that it would be a brilliant piece to attempt to play. The arrangement is rather simple, I think, so it shouldn't be too hard to master, and I have made sure that _all,_" here he looked at Cindy, "instruments have a chance at the melody." It was a common complaint that I was subject to listening to several times a week, but I couldn't blame her. The French horn section never did seem to ever get much of a melody. I glanced back the shock of orange hair I used to identify my friend, and felt a wave of dread swoop over me.

Krad stood behind Satoshi, his blonde hair slowly beginning to fall out of its long ponytail. In his left hand he held the strangest violin I had ever seen. It was a solid matte white, with sparkling gold-tone strings. The bow matched the main body, but the horsehair on it was a creamy gold instead of the sparkling color of the strings. The tuning keys seemed to be slightly silver. It was obviously a custom job, and I wondered briefly how much it had cost.

"Losira!" I was snapped back into reality by Lindsay, who poked me lightly with her flute. "You're playing the piano for this piece, aren't you?" With a start, I realized I must have spaced out. I wondered what Cladwell had said during my brief space mission, but quickly brushed it off. It probably hadn't been important; an explanation as to why Satoshi and Krad were here, perhaps. I already knew why. 'L's Theme' had a big violin part. Violin and piano.

"Oh, um… yeah…" I could feel myself blushing as I hurriedly stood up, fumbled my flute onto my stand (otherwise I was certain I'd sit on it when I returned), snapped up the sheet music for 'L's Theme', and slipped past Satoshi and Krad (resolutely looking at neither of them) to the piano. I settled onto the bench, and glanced at the band. The piano was situated so that I could see most of the band from my place on the bench, and they could see me. I was thankful that no one spared me a second glance.

I watched Cladwell count us off rather slowly, my fingers itching with the urge to play –

– And promptly started about twenty beats too fast. My eyes flickered away from my music as I heard the band slowly fall away, and eventually stop, but one instrument kept pace. The quavering tones of a white violin kept perfect time with the piano as Krad continued playing. I nearly stopped. I almost stopped playing and walked back to my flute. But then I realized something amazing.

Krad was playing a tune he'd probably never seen before. But his eyes were closed. I was caught so off guard that my fingers slipped from their keys and created a very unmusical sort of 'BONG' noise. I heard Darren give a low whistle. Even Satoshi looked rather impressed. I apparently wasn't the only one to have noticed this strange display of talent.

"That was impressive," Cladwell said at last. "Have either of you two played this song before?" He glanced at me, and I felt myself blush. Again.

"Um… I've played it once or twice," I said meekly. His gaze swiveled to the cat-like violin prodigy who stood to my right. Odd… when had he gotten there?

Krad just shrugged. "It's a pretty simple melody to memorize," he said at last. I heard a small murmur rise from the class when he spoke, and noticed most of the murmurs were those of a definite feminine persuasion. I almost shuddered in disgust. Krad's smooth, low, purring voice did nothing but give me the creeps.

I glanced back miserably at the clock, and saw that we only had five more minutes. Cladwell followed my gaze, and sighed. "Alright everyone, please pack up. I'd like to start work on 'Sailing Songs' tomorrow so please practice that a bit tonight!" I quickly stood up, straightened my shirt out, and walked over to my flute, which still sat on my stand. I was packed up and ready to go in a moment.

"Losira," Cladwell said calmly, "would you come here for a moment?" I froze, and glanced over at him. Sure enough, Krad stood over by the director's podium, his strange violin still held in one hand. Satoshi had disappeared. Sighing a sigh of utter resentment, I slowly made my way to Krad's left. His _far _left.

"Yes sir?" I asked as I readjusted my messenger's bag. The strap had a way of cutting into my shoulder when it wanted to, and I'd come home with a thin red line on my shoulder several times before.

"I hate to call you out like this," he began, and I instantly knew something was going to go horribly wrong. "Especially you, Krad, since you're so new, but after what I saw today… the two of you are both extremely talented. I was wondering if you would consider doing a brief duet towards the end of the song." A small part of me tried to die right then. In fact, a large part of me _wanted _to die right then.

Krad shrugged. "Sure," he said. "It's quite the honor… Sira?" I bristled visibly when he used my nickname, but I didn't care if he saw. I just was beyond caring.

"I –" Suddenly my voice cracked and I continued hurriedly. I wasn't going to cry, no, but I was almost positive if I stayed in this room I would start pulling my hair out. "Yeah, sure. Sounds like a plan." It would be easier to agree, and I needed out of there. The bell rang a moment later, and I hurried off.

Actually, _rushed _off was a bit closer. Cindy had to jog to keep up with me, and she had the longest stride of anyone I knew. Of course, I didn't know many people; I kept to myself most of the time.

"Sira," she said, "slow down. I want to walk with you, not try to keep up!" Her bright orange hair, almost the exact color of hunting gear, swished around her shoulders, and I finally slowed. "That was really awesome, what you did," she continued, "I mean, any eejit can have photographic memory, but you…" she trailed off and grinned. "That's the talent. Actually _learning _the piece, I mean." I grinned back. Even though Cindy didn't always know what to say, and frequently distanced herself from society for no particular reason, she was still a pretty awesome person who could almost always make me smile.

"So are you eating with us today?" I asked. When I said 'us', I meant Riku, Daisuke, and Risa. Sometimes Dark would stop by to hang out with us (which I couldn't stand on most days) and other times, very rarely, Satoshi would stop by for a quick chat. Cindy ate with us most days, or rather, sat with us, as she rarely ate in front of people. However, there were rare days when she would simply, and I have no better word for it, _disappear. _I always made a point to ask her where she was, and she always said she had been right in the cafeteria. One of those days, I got up, searched the cafeteria, the girl's restrooms, the school stores, and checked with all of Cindy's teachers and her councilor, and didn't find her. I also barely escaped a week's worth of detention.

Yet when I saw her next, she said: "You looked awfully worried about something when you left at lunch today Sira. Are you alright?" My jaw had dropped. I had asked her where she had been, and she said simply that she had been there. The whole time. Without leaving, or hiding. She had simply been sitting on her own that day, trying to collect her thoughts. I hadn't seen her. How had I not seen her?

But I was startled out of my reverie when Cindy replied. "Yeah," she said, "I need to be around you… I feel like I want to slip off though." Her eyes had taken on a misty, faraway look. We walked in silence almost to the cafeteria, where she put an arm on my shoulder.

"What is it Cindy?" I asked. She suddenly seemed very troubled, and beckoned for me to follow a few paces away.

"It's not really that big a deal, but it is under wraps for the time being," she began. Then she cupped her hands around my ear and whispered, "There's going to be a talent show in two months." I blinked in surprise.

"That's awesome!" I exclaimed. Cindy knew I hated being given only a few weeks to prepare –I was strange like that. "Are you…?" I trailed off, and she picked up.

"I'm singing," she said. "But no more about that until after school; I was just _dying _to tell someone…" She grinned and then we walked into the cafeteria, to the table towards the back, where we always sat. To where Risa and Riku and Daisuke were waiting for us.

Where this story _really _begins.

**…**

AN: … Honestly, I can say I forgot about this. I didn't even remember I had the document half-started until… I think three days ago. *sigh* Well, this is awkward. Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

This is disclaimer cat.

This is I cat.

This is don't cat.

This is own cat.

This is D cat.

This is N cat.

This is angel cat.

Now read the third word of each line. Thanks! Don't sue!

…

Lunch was normally a very enjoyable time. I would sit and chat with my friends as we ate, Cindy would write poetry and watch us eat, and I would try to get _her_ to eat. Daisuke would occasionally start to sketch Riku, or anybody who was at our table, as we ate. But today, things were different. Darren had decided to eat with us, and girls were occasionally coming up to our table to flirt with him –or at least, try to. Cindy had put her notebooks away, though she still wasn't eating, and stared down every single person who came to talk to Darren. Riku and Risa and I were deep in discussion about 'the new guy', so I could have ignored Darren and Cindy, I could have left them to their own devices.

However, Cindy's quiet sigh of frustration and a low, accented voice snapped me out of my thoughts and my conversation. It also made me nearly jump out of my skin. I turned, just a bit too quickly, and found Krad standing directly behind me. I assumed Cindy had tried to stare him down, and failed. He blinked. Then I blinked. His hair had fallen out of its ponytail and hung loosely around his shoulders. I noticed, a bit too late, that my mouth was refusing to form coherent words. Luckily, Krad spoke again.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" He asked slowly. I imagined he'd thought I hadn't understood him the first time, which was basically correct. My brain went momentarily blank as I thought of how I could politely refuse, but then Risa kicked me in the shin.

"Ow!" I yelped, and then quickly turning back to the table to hide my blush, I said, "Sure, grab a chair." I'm sure my voice shook, even though I tried my best to feign indifference. I glared daggers at Risa, who looked away innocently. Sighing, I tried to return to our conversation, but it was too strange with Krad sitting two seats away, and I soon lapsed into silence.

Cindy, almost seeming to sense my distress, piped up with a question (or comment, it was hard to tell with her). "So um… Sira, you haven't introduced us… who is this?" The way she was looking at me didn't suggest she wanted to know anything other than his name, and I prayed Darren saw that as well. He could be quite jealous at times.

"Oh," I said, shifting slightly. "Um, guys, this is Krad," I paused, thinking this next step through. "Krad, this is Risa, her sister Riku, Daisuke, Cindy, and Darren." They all smiled briefly, and Darren reached out and offered his hand, which Krad shook.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," he said coolly, and I briefly wondered where he'd gotten his accent from. It was so strange; I couldn't place it to any one country or state. Maybe his parents traveled or something. That was good; he might not be here for too long.

"So you don't eat either?" Cindy asked suddenly. "That's awesome; I hate it when people stare at me." Krad turned his cool eyes on her for a brief moment; then he seemed to think better of it. It was almost as though he could sense the jealousy and hurt raging _visibly _in Darren's eyes.

"I've never eaten much," he replied, gazing intently at the table. "But I eat. I _am _human, despite what my… _brother _might tell you." His hands, which he had folded on the table, tensed slightly and relaxed. But I thought I might have caught a glimpse of some faint scar on his skin.

_Who cares Losi, _I asked myself. _Not you. You don't care. You want nothing to do with this kid. _And I didn't. I really, really didn't. He was wrecking my friends' lives without even being aware of it. There were other things, petty things such as the length of his hair, but I was more worried about Darren and Cindy than that.

"So you and Satoshi are twins?" Daisuke asked after the long moment of awkward silence at our table. Krad didn't answer him, but the blonde's amber eyes grew incredibly sharp. Daisuke, apparently unsure what to say, stayed silent. Soon, the even more awkward silence was interrupted by the ringing of the bell, dismissing us to our next class. Krad was quick to leave, and his hair danced around his ankles like a cape as he walked. Not that I was paying attention.

"I hope I didn't offend him," Daisuke said. Riku murmured something comforting to him, but I was already being dragged along by Cindy.

"C'mon Losi! Time for gym!" I felt a wave of dread swoop through my stomach, but gave Cindy a quick smile nonetheless.

"Don't call me Losi," I growled jokingly. "It's Losira; Sira for short. What do you think of Cinder?" She growled back and gave me a gentle shove, and we laughed the rest of the way to gym class.

…

We were headed off at the doors of our gymnasium by Mrs. Reiter, who stood by the drinking fountain telling us not to change for this class. Cindy smiled and looked over at me. "I bet you're regretting wearing a turtleneck?" she asked mockingly.

"I've been regretting it since this morning," I replied dryly, remembering my vow to never wear another turtleneck for the rest of the winter. "Guess why…" My words died in my throat, never to be heard by anyone but me. I felt my stomach twist as I quickly scanned other faces in the bleachers, which must have been unfolded from the wall for this purpose. They were my classmates. There was Darren, and Dark, Takeshi and (my heart skipped a beat) Satoshi. I continued surveying the bleachers, and saw that Daisuke, Riku, and Risa had beaten me and Cindy here.

Sitting in the middle of the chaos of these seven, and the ten other guys and girls who made up a class that used to be only nineteen, was none other than Krad Hikari. Cindy gave me a gentle nudge on the shoulder.

"Keep walking Sira," she whispered. "Don't let him get to you. You're fine." I didn't look at her, and I most certainly did not look at Krad. I kept my eyes on my shoes; on the shining wooden floor beneath them, and put one foot in front of the other until Cindy tugged my arm. I looked about, and saw we were on the bleachers now, near the top. Cindy sat down, and indicated that I should probably do likewise. I sighed and allowed myself to sit next to her, trying my absolute hardest not to look around. There was almost no chance of me being paired with Krad anyway, so why was I so worried?

The bell rang, and Mrs. Reiter walked briskly into the gym, to face us in the bleachers. Her choppy brunette hair hung to her shoulders and her violet eyes glittered behind a pair of brown framed glasses. She wore jeans and a gray sweatshirt, with a pair of black running shoes. Like a stereotypical gym teacher, she held a clipboard and there was a whistle around her neck. Unlike a stereotypical gym teacher though, the whistle was bright pink and the clipboard had 'Long Live Theatre' written on the back in glitter.

"Alright," she called out, "Good afternoon class!" Before we even had a chance to reply, she plowed right on with her speech. "Today is the start of my favorite two weeks of this entire course: Our annual dance unit!" I twitched. This could have all been out of a nightmare. Well, maybe not Cindy sitting next to me; if this was a nightmare I'd be all alone.

Mrs. Reiter continued. "This year, since the unit is taking place so close to our also annual talent show, I have decided that I want this unit to be _professional!_" I wanted to kill someone, or something, or kick a wall. However, I was glad to see I wasn't the only one who looked uncomfortable. Darren looked unnaturally stiff, and Riku and Risa were nervously chatting with each other.

I stopped listening to Mrs. R, figuring Cindy would be happy to fill me in on the details later, and began to scan the bleachers for other classmates' reactions. Takeshi, the ever-snooping reporter, was scribbling something onto a spiral-bound notepad. Dark, curse him, was sitting nonchalantly a few rows down, looking half asleep despite the normal group of girls around him. Or maybe it was because of it? I wondered briefly what would happen if all of the girls that normally surrounded Dark suddenly disappeared. What would he do? The thought of him alone was so ridiculous it made me smile.

Satoshi looked as though he was listening to Mrs. R, but it didn't look like he was very happy with what he was hearing. His eyebrows were drawn together, and his mouth was a thin line. I wondered what he was thinking about, but only for a moment.

"Alright everybody!" Mrs. Reiter called, "I'd like you all to remain seated as I read off names! You will not be required to marry your partner for this unit, so I don't want to hear any complaints about who you're paired with!" I couple of people laughed weakly. I was not among them.

"What's the deal?" I asked Cindy. She sighed.

"Sira, you've got to learn to listen," she smiled. "She's going to list our dancing partners, give us the rest of the class to get 'acquainted' with them, and toward the end of the class she says she'll tell us what kind of dance you'll be learning with whoever you get paired with."

"What kind of dance?" I repeated. Mrs. Reiter started out the list, pairing 'Ables, Thomas' with 'Thornhill, Olivia'.

"Yeah," Cindy replied. "We're only learning one type of dance each, y'see. So this unit's going to involve a lot of 'homework', she says, practicing with your partner, and you'll get two lessons, one each week, with her outside of gym class." I was amazed I had managed to zone far enough out to miss all of that. In the meantime, 'Adrianza, Juliet' was paired with 'Smith, Isaiah'. I knew Darren was up next (this was a rather small class), and I crossed my fingers, hoping he'd end up with Cindy.

"Braddock, Darren," Mrs. R called, "and Draheim, Cindy." I wasn't sure who was smiling more, Darren, or me. Cindy murmured a quiet 'yes!' and I grinned at her.

"Luck of the Irish?" I asked, pointing to her bright orange hair.

"I'm Russian and Polish, mostly," she said, "But, whatever floats your boat!" In the meantime, several other students had been paired up, making five groups of two. This class had quite a few people whose surnames began with 'D'. Meanwhile, ten unpaired students, including me, the Harada's, Takeshi, Daisuke, Dark, Satoshi and Krad, sat nervously.

"Fallen, Drew, and Saehara, Takeshi." I couldn't help but smile at this match. If Darren and Cindy's had been a match made in heaven, Drew and Takeshi's was a match made in hell. Both were headstrong, snoopy, and _incredibly _annoying. They were also rivals in the newspaper, and constantly competed for the best scoops.

"Harada, Riku," Mrs. Reiter called. There was a moment of silence, and Riku glanced up at Daisuke. "And Niwa, Daisuke. Goodness knows there's enough drama going on without splitting you two up." Daisuke turned a light shade of pink, but Riku laughed. She had always been a favorite of Mrs. R because of her incredible athletic talent. I took a moment to consider that Satoshi had not yet been paired with anybody.

"Harada, Risa, and Hiwatari, Satoshi," were the next words out of my gym teacher's mouth, and hearing them made me want to curl up and die. This meant that the only people who were left without a partner were me, a girl named Storm, Dark, and Krad. Not to mention that, if I remembered correctly, Krad's name would be called next.

I was right. "Hikari, Krad, –"

The gap between his name and the next was just long enough for me to think, _if it's him or Dark, I'll be with him. Just please, please don't pair me with Dark! _He and I had been friends for a while, but that was half the reason I disliked him so much. I knew how vain and egotistical he was, how he'd flirt with anything that could speak, and how –

"–And Summers, Losira." I breathed a quiet sigh of relief, and then, suddenly, realized exactly what I'd gotten myself into. I would have to dance. With Krad. In front of an audience. With _Krad. In front of Satoshi. _Cindy was looking at me worriedly, and I gave her a weak smile.

"If I die," I said quietly, "feel free to take anything you want that I own." She grinned back at me, but she still looked concerned.

"I'm sorry about… well, y'know," she said. I shrugged as my stomach did an awkward flip-flop. "At least it's not forever," Cindy continued. "Although… I guess if it were Darren, I wouldn't mind that too much." I felt a wave of bitterness at her words. Why couldn't I be partnered with Satoshi? Why was it that nothing special ever seemed to happen to _me? _

"Alright class," Mrs. Reiter said, "please get together with your partners. You will have the rest of this class, and anytime outside of it, of course, to get to know your partner. In about twenty-five minutes, I'll be walking around with a hat. You'll be drawing whatever dance you'll perform out of this hat. I'll see you then." She turned around, and as she walked to her office, the rest of the class slowly began shifting around on the bleachers to get to their partners.

"Good luck!" Cindy whispered to me, and then jumped down to where Darren sat. They began chatting with each other almost instantly. I stood, somewhat reluctantly, and began moving over to where Krad was still sitting. As I got close, he glanced up at me, and I sat down. I kept about two feet of distance between us, more for my comfort than anything, but he didn't seem to be offended.

"Well," he said calmly, "this is certainly… interesting, I suppose." His strange voice seemed to grate against my ears, and I wondered why I had wanted to be with him instead of Dark. "First band, now this… must be fate."

"You believe in fate?" I asked him dryly. He shrugged, and glanced over at Takeshi and Drew.

"When there's no other explanation," he replied. "Do they always fight like this?" He nodded at the two reporters, who I thought were being rather civil. Takeshi was waving a camera in front of Drew's face, and Drew was blatantly ignoring it and pointing out something in a notebook.

"Normally it's worse," I replied. "There's been no physical contact between them yet…" Krad looked mildly surprised, but shook his head and sighed to disguise it. We lapsed into an awkward silence, during which I could hear blood pounding in my ears; drowning out the sound of voices around me.

"So…" I said, painfully aware of how strained my voice sounded, "Were there a lot of fights at your old school?" Probably not the best question to ask, but I couldn't think of anything else.

"I wouldn't say a lot," he replied. "It was more that you got shoved around frequently… but I'd rather not talk about that, if it's all the same." I was a bit surprised by his dismissal of the subject, but I realized I didn't really want to hear about it either. Again, we lapsed into silence, but I was relieved to notice it wasn't as awkward as before.

I glanced at the clock, and saw it had only been about two minutes since Mrs. Reiter had finished calling off names. Drew hit Takeshi across the face with her notebook.

"They'll probably be in ISS for the rest of the day," I sighed, "They just don't learn." Krad didn't reply, and I fought with my brain for something to talk to him about. I wanted to ask about Satoshi, but after the brief scene at lunch following Daisuke's question I thought that might be a bad idea. So, my mind turned to band.

"How long have you been playing the violin?" I asked. Krad glanced over at me, and I saw a look of mild surprise in his eyes.

"About ten years," he responded. "I started when I was four, so… actually, a little closer to eleven." I was amazed. "How long have you been playing the piano?"

"Only five years," I replied, "My mom sorta enrolled me in classes against my will, but… I guess it's kinda fun." Krad laughed.

"Well, at least you don't practice until your fingers bleed," he said. "When I first started, I had to learn how to write with my right hand, because it hurt less."

"You're left handed?" I asked.

"Well," he said "I'm ambidextrous now, but I suppose you could still say that." I laughed, surprised that I found his dry explanation amusing.

"That's cool," I replied, "Did it take long to learn?"

We talked like this for the rest of the class period, but I won't bore you with the details. In fact, to be quite truthful I don't remember much of it anyways. My brain sort of kicked most of that half hour out the back door (or possibly one of my ears), when Mrs. Reiter walked past us with a baseball cap full of folded bits of paper. I knew immediately that those paper scraps were all different dances, and I paled with the possibilities. Ballet? Salsa? Tango?

Krad plucked a random bit of paper from the far end of the hat, and held it for a moment before opening it. He glanced at it, and with a perfect poker face, passed it over to me as Mrs. R walked off towards Drew and Takeshi (who were now feigning laughter as Takeshi nursed a black eye).

I looked down at the bit of paper, and my colorless hair fell in front of my face as my heart filled with dread.

One stupid little word was all it took.

Waltz.

…

AN: I'm so sorry updates for this story are so infrequent. This is the first DN Angel story I've ever tried writing that excludes magic, and it's actually quite difficult for me. However, thank you for your support!


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